what skaters do you love who never really made it?

I'll start with the usa ladies who broke my heart. I love Allyssa. Enuff said there. Ouch and OHHH! Also Jenny Kirk was not scored highly when she did her triple/triples and I feel she felt an also ran to the big 2. I felt she should have had a long, lovely career. And Nikidinov was often so disappointing for such a natural talent. Lastly I'll have to mention the terrible-ly good at times total sad story Tonya. Oh one more. I adored Bobeks skating...sigh. Men? Pairs? Dance teams who broke your heart?

I forgot to mention the very good skater who despite her triple/triple was not held in much high esteem by the judges...amber corwin. She really hung in there and I wish she could have done better as she was so dedicated. She was quite versatile.

The latter case was affecting me to the point of being unable to fully enjoy Mirai until now. Mirai really reminded me of Naomi, that same wonderful cheeriness and spirit. I'm just happy that Mirai has proved me a plain old scaredy cat.

yeah. NNN. One magical year. For the men I feel really sorry about Bowman. What a talented guy who had so many enablers in the sport, IMO.

As for the ladies internationally, I loved Josee but cringed when she competed. I watched Caro at 16, she was great. Now I just wish she had retired after Torino. What a disappoiintment. Biggest Russian lady heartbreak? Viktoria! So talented, awful competitor. Pairs....I think Meno and Sand never got their due as amateurs. I like them so much as people, tho and think they did SOI proud. tho they are not exciting skaters.

I hate seeing Joubert past his prime and remember his youthful confidence the most.

Looking back in time I think of American skater John Misha Petkevich - who was one of the greatest freeskaters of his era - and deserves to be remembered for his contributions to skating despite never winning a World or Olympic Gold medal.

Those of you not familiar with him could think of Tomas Werner - as Petkevich was both athletic and elegant - but had difficulty skating clean programs when it counted the most.

He skated in the era of Janet Lynn - when USA singles skaters were pushing free skating into an art.
Petkevich was always a big favorite of Dick Button and here is an interesting bit of skating lore:

"Petkevich was the recipient of an unusual trophy. At the 1947 World Figure Skating Championships, Ulrich Salchow was particularly impressed by Dick Button's skating, and gave him one of his own trophies. Following the 1972 Olympics, Button passed on Salchow's trophy to Petkevich, who has stated that he also intends to keep up the tradition by presenting it to another young skater someday."

I was wondering - does anybody know if Petkevich has passed on this trophy ?

Here is a link to a performance from 1972 - wish it was better quality but I think it gives an idea to what a special free skater he was:

Although they have World medals I've always wished so much more for Tanja Shewchenko and Bobek. Every time I watch Bobek's 95' worlds LP, I can't bring myself to watch it past the 1st 2axel. Argh... who knows, maybe Lulu still would have won, but at least it would have been fairly close and gone either way had Bobek gone clean, Imo.

I really like Blake Rosenthal and Samantha Cesario, I think they are both gorgeous skaters, unfortunately they didn't place very well at nationals this year, I don't know why Samantha was 14th though, she landed all her jumps in the LP and has nice spins, spirals, and footwork too. I'm still hoping that she will have a breakthrough in the future, I really enjoyed watching her at the last two nationals.

Looking back in time I think of American skater John Misha Petkevich - who was one of the greatest freeskaters of his era - and deserves to be remembered for his contributions to skating despite never winning a World or Olympic Gold medal.

Those of you not familiar with him could think of Tomas Werner - as Petkevich was both athletic and elegant - but had difficulty skating clean programs when it counted the most.

He skated in the era of Janet Lynn - when USA singles skaters were pushing free skating into an art.
Petkevich was always a big favorite of Dick Button and here is an interesting bit of skating lore:

"Petkevich was the recipient of an unusual trophy. At the 1947 World Figure Skating Championships, Ulrich Salchow was particularly impressed by Dick Button's skating, and gave him one of his own trophies. Following the 1972 Olympics, Button passed on Salchow's trophy to Petkevich, who has stated that he also intends to keep up the tradition by presenting it to another young skater someday."

I was wondering - does anybody know if Petkevich has passed on this trophy ?

Here is a link to a performance from 1972 - wish it was better quality but I think it gives an idea to what a special free skater he was:

Anyone else a big fan of Amanda Dobbs? I really, really like her skating - she's pretty and elegant but she also has speed and nice powerful jumps. I actually think she might "make it" so to speak if she can get her 3flip consistent and add a 3lutz to her arsenal. Anyone else feel the same way? She was one of the pleasant surprises at nationals this year